Students of Management Department Unikama Apply Ecogreen Downstream for People with Disabilities in Gunung Wedon

UNIKAMA – Students of the Management Study Program (Prodi) Universitas PGRI Kanjuruhan Malang (Unikama) apply Ecogreen downstreaming for people with disabilities in Gunung Wedon, Turirejo Village, Lawang District for 4 months from August to November 2021.

Yoga Setyawan, one of the students who are members of the Thematic Real Work Lecture (KKNT) group in the village, explained that this downstream application aims to help people with disabilities when climbing.

“We created ecogreen downstreaming, starting from making road directions for mountain locations, accessing hiking trails for the disabled, planting trees, educational photo spots, handling waste to improving the community’s economy by training and empowering UMKM (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) around Mount Wedon. Actually, not only for people with disabilities, but also for other climbers,” he said.

In addition to the application of Ecogreen Downstream, students also provide knowledge and insight to the community in empowering UMKM.

“We also hope that the community can actually implement all the knowledge that has been given by the presenters related to business development. Starting from determining business ideas to how to market them using technology,” he explained.

Iva Nurdiana Nurdifa, SE., MM as DPL (Field Assistant Lecturer) stated that indeed Mount Wedon has interesting tourism potential and can be visited by anyone including people with disabilities.

Therefore, KKNT Management Study Program students collaborated with the Lingkar Sosial (LinkSos) community to build this Gunung Wedon ecotourism.

“I hope that the public can see the good potentials of Mount Wedon, thus increasing the economy of the local residents,” he concluded.

The application of Ecogreen Downstream is fully supported by the Head of the Independent Campus Competition Program Team (PKKM) Unikama Management, Drs. Sulistyo, M.Ak and also the Head of LinkSos Ken Kertaningtyas. They hope that the existence of Mount Wedon ecotourism is expected to be able to have a positive impact through optimizing economic potential and can help people with disabilities who climb to avoid the dangers of accidents.

Meanwhile, Village Head Arif Sukmawanto, S.H, MM, thanked the KKNT Unikama students and also LinkSos. With this program, UMKM in Turirejo Village can learn to prepare their own budget in sales, and of course, with the material that has been conveyed, they can add insight on how to make financial arrangements in a simple way.

“I also hope that the Downstream Ecogreen in Gunung Wedon will be able to add Tourism Villages in Indonesia as a competitive tourism destination, which is able to encourage regional development, community welfare, as well as a place to promote the potential of tourist villages in Indonesia,” he concluded.